S&P: Possible Spain bailout wouldn't hurt rating

MADRID (AP) — Rating agency Standard & Poor's says a Spanish request for a bailout to help it through the eurozone's sovereign debt crisis probably would not harm the country's credit rating.

Spain is reeling from the collapse of a property boom that forced it to request up to €100 billion in financial aid for its banks, but it has so far resisted pressure to ask for a full national bailout.

Overspending by its semiautonomous regions and a double-dip recession have driven its borrowing costs higher as investors fear the eurozone's fourth largest economy may not be able to pay its debts.

S&P said Wednesday the terms of any bailout agreement could help Mariano Rajoy's conservative government push through the fiscal and economic reforms Spain needs, bolstering market faith in its economic prospects.